


Make Them Smile

by John_Q_Sample



Category: Smile For Me (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, Flowers, Gen, Hospitals, Teeth, The Lily specifically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22362067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Q_Sample/pseuds/John_Q_Sample
Summary: Missing a few teeth, spitting blood, thoroughly shocked, though...strangely happy, Flower Kid leaves the Habitat.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51





	Make Them Smile

"Please. Make them smile. For me?”

All I can do is nod.

“Thank you.”

And then I’m let go.

To think, just minutes ago I was strapped to a dentist chair having my teeth pulled and laughing like a maniac because of all the gas I was inhaling. Just one flower changed that.

I’m glad I could help him. I can't yet process all the emotions churning in the back of my mind, so I just settle on that one. Glad. Glad I can deal with.  


The elevator ride is silent, no music, no talking, just the whirring of the machinery. I go down, walk out into the boiler room.

For a moment it doesn’t feel real. Like I’ll just wake up to another one of those morning PSAs, with Dr. Habit telling me what a little brat I am for making his Habiticians so happy. Or maybe, even better, I’ll wake up at home, with Mom and Dad shaking me and telling me I’ve had another nightmare. That this whole place was imagined from an ad I saw online.  


Neither of these things happen. Instead, I walk alone, silent, towards the entrance to the Habitat.

The door has never been open before. I remember someone locking it after me once I first came in here. It was frightening, but I convinced myself it was for our own protection, or something. Like there were coyotes out in the mountains.

I’m guessing someone unlocked it during last night’s mass exodus.

I go through the doors and head out to the World ahead of me.

How I’m going to recover from this, I don’t know. But now I have a mission, given to me by a man who I’m glad is no longer my enemy. Make them smile.

For him.

I start walking.

I haven’t driven since I was seventeen, and I got into a car accident. My parents have tried to coax me into driving again, to no avail. So it was Dad who drove me here.

Technically risky, with the possibility of me getting stranded out in the mountains, but we  _ thought _ that we could have a doctor phone my parents, or that I could find a computer and email them. Unfortunately, the Habitat has no actual doctors, nor phones or computers available to the Habiticians. My parents are probably worried sick by now. It's been almost two weeks.  


And I don’t have a way home with all the Habiticians gone. I don’t think it would be very nice to ask Dr. Habit for a ride, and I also don’t think he’s up for driving right now, anyway. But my legs still work.

I know vaguely where Town is. I don’t know how long it’ll take to get there, but I won’t think about it too much. Instead, I focus on the tune I’m humming, careful, something from the Lounge, I think. I can’t talk and the noise I’m making is starting to make it hard to breathe. Going quiet, I resolve for tapping my fingers against my knees in the tune. I bob my head a little like I’m dancing to it.

Against better judgment, I run my tongue along the now empty gums. It’s like when you lose a tooth as a child, only more painful, and  _ so _ many more teeth. The metallic taste of blood gushes through my mouth. I wince.

How am I going to explain  _ that _ to my parents?

While walking I decide to focus on that little predicament. If I walk all the way home, it’ll probably be late when I get there. I can just tell them, in my usual silent and more importantly  _ close-lipped _ way, that I want to go to bed.

In the morning, though.

When they ask me how the Habitat was, though.

When I have to eat, though.

When I smile at the customers, though.

A car drives up to me and gently pulls me from my frantic thoughts. It moves slowly, as if aware of its size and its ability to startle me.

Being approached by a car in the middle of the mountains, while I’m alone, would normally scare me. Seeing in the passenger seat the tired-looking face of the man who just pulled a quarter of my teeth out  _ should _ scare me.

I’m not scared, though.

Kamal jumps out of the driver’s seat and runs around the car to approach me. “Oh my God. Oh my God! Flower Kid, are you okay?”

He cuts himself off after one question, allowing me the opportunity to nod in response. He relaxes considerably, pressing a hand over his chest and sinking down.

He has a tooth lily hanging over his ear.

“I didn’t expect to see you here. But, you know, I thought you’d be driving out.”

I shake my head no.

“You don’t have a car?”

I shake my head no again.

Kamal glances at his car. “Well...would you like a ride?”

Relieved, I nod.

I get into the backseat as Kamal climbs back into the front. Dr. Habit first smiles at Kamal, then twists around in his seat to view me.

“Hello,” he says with a little grin.

I smile.

I still taste blood.

This is like telling someone “goodbye” and then accidentally walking in the same direction as them, only weirder. And we have a few hours drive ahead of us.

Yeah, I don’t know why I thought I could walk it home.

“I hung around to make sure everything went okay,” Kamal explains. “Then I went to check in on Habit. Uh...you’re real brave, Flower Kid. Seriously.”

I try to nod in a way to thank him, but I realize he can’t see me unless he checks the rearview mirror. He keeps his eyes trained ahead on the empty road.

“I was already taking Habit to the hospital,” Kamal says, “so you’re going, too. I think you should, anyway.”

I nod. Again, unseen, but it doesn't matter much since Kamal has already made up his mind.  


Dr. Habit is digging around in his pockets. I’m almost afraid he has extra teeth in there, but he pulls out a little packet of tissues instead. He hands them to me, then gently taps at the side of his mouth.

Right.

I open the package and start wiping the blood from my lips. That’s when I realize how  _ much _ blood there is, and how hard my hands are shaking.

I sink back into the seat. My eyes roll a little bit.

“Flower Child?”

Habit’s been speaking a lot more  _ eloquently _ than usual, less like the frantic dentist previously looming over me—I almost don’t register it’s him. But he  _ is _ talking to me, asking me if I’m okay and begging me to keep my eyes open.

When I do open my eyes, finally, he’s still talking to me.

“...and I hope you’re hearing all of this because—oh. You’re awake now. Good morning, I guess. But it’s night.”

Dr. Habit looms over me. No, I’m lying down.

No no  _ no _ wait, I’m in a  _ hospital _ , not his office.

I sit up. My vision gets a little blurry, and I shove my hair out of my face. Hospital, yes. Kamal said we were going there. I must have fallen asleep on the way.  


No. Not quite right.

“I’m sorry,” Dr. Habit murmurs. “The doctors, they said you lost a lot of blood. And the laughing gas...It’s not very good for you to breathe that much of it. You or me. They said we’re both very, very lucky.”

I nod. I’m still a little out of it. Lucky, though. That’s good. We’re lucky.

Dr. Habit puts a hand on my shoulder. Kind of covers my whole shoulder, actually. I feel a little comforted by it, but I’m still rigid and trying to keep control of my breathing.

The taste of blood is still present from the empty gums.

Kamal comes into the room. He still has the flower, now cradling it and turning it gently in his hands. “Uh, I just called your parents...They were a little freaked that you ended up in the hospital, but everyone seems to think the Habitat had a gas leak. I guess that’s what the Habiticians were telling everyone.”

Dr. Habit looks down, and a vague blush spreads across his face. Shame?

I can’t really blame him.

“Anyway, they’re...coming to pick you up, I guess. The doctors are gonna let you leave, so.”

I nod. I smile, not showing teeth, to thank him. Kamal smiles back, nervously.

“If you guys are good, then maybe I should, uh...”

“You can stay,” Dr. Habit says.

Kamal presses his lips together and nods before leaning against the wall. "Uh, Habit. You want your flower back?"  


"It's yours now. I said."

Kamal nods and looks down at it. He begins blushing, _not_ from shame. “You both feel okay?”

We both nod.

“Oh, good.”

It feels a little calm, right now.

I know that later it’s going to be chaos. My parents will come in panicking about the alleged gas leak, and my safety, and my teeth. The shock I’m probably in will wear off, allowing me to properly panic about everything that happened. I’ll have to go back to the flower shop like a normal person, a silent little Flower Kid who just wants to help people, now missing a chunk of their teeth and imbued with a strange past shared with twenty-two—no, twenty-three now—other people.

I sigh and put my hand on top of Boris’s.

**Author's Note:**

> habit gave kamal the flower cos it means a lot 2 him but he thinkz kamal could use it mor


End file.
